We all have certain moments in our lives that you’ll never forget, and I can still remember how I felt when I heard about the passing of Whitney Houston. My heart just sank and my eyes filled with tears. I moped all of that weekend. I knew she had been living a hell of a roller coaster life, but I was just hoping, waiting… kind of expecting for her to make a comeback. It was in those moments I realized how much of an impact she had made on me as a singer. I had been singing her tunes for years. Whitney’s songs were part of my daily set list; her voice was permanently imprinted in my circuitry.
I remember driving home from a gig one night; it was a little dive bar in Trenton, New Jersey… it was at least 2am and I’m headed south on route 295 … my head still resonating from a night of singing the Pretenders, Fleetwood Mac, Rondstadt – and then I heard ‘Saving All My Love For You’ come on the radio. I had to pull my car over on the shoulder. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I was blown away by that voice… that tone… instantly I knew this girl was the real deal and I knew I’d be learning that song. Oh, I wished I could have heard it again in that moment… I remembered the DJ saying ‘that was Whitney Houston’ – and I remember driving real slow in hopes of hearing that big voice again that night. I was excited, energized and inspired. The next day I went to the mall and bought her album.
And just like that the bar had been raised – by a mile. As a ‘club singer’, it was my job to learn top forty songs – songs like Cydni Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’, Tina Turner’s ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ or Nena’s ’99 Luftballoons’ … a real variety of music that kept things interesting for me, but I never had the vocal challenge of a Whitney Houston before.
So it’s 1985 and Whitney Houston, all of a sudden, is all over the air waves– and the music scene for me all changed. I had to work hard – very, very hard, to come close to her amazing vocal abilities if I was going to stay relevant, competitive and have a future in the music business. Her incredible pop songs would become a part of my repertoire for years. To me, her vocal prowess was the gold standard… and she made me become a better singer. Thank you, Whitney. I will always love you.
theclubsinger 